The Bet (Avenger's High School AU)

♡ Chapter Eighteen ♡

The next four months pass in a blur for Peter.

He spends the majority of Winter Break working his ass off and it pays off when he gets a raise. He spends Christmas Eve with May in the hospital, talking quietly about the past Christmases they've had. She convinces him to spend Christmas Day with Steve, Scott, Loki, Thor, Thor's parents, Hela, and Bucky at Thor's house. He goes over to Tony's for Christmas Dinner and Maria is welcoming and the food's wonderful.

When school starts up again, he spends all of January studying his ass off for exams and tutoring Wade and Steve. They're both geniuses but needed the push to try harder.

He aces them all and second semester begins with a new sense of hope when, with his raise, he's able to catch up on rent, hospital bills, and phone bills. He even gets his electricity back on, though it's still a little touch and go with how much he's able to pay.

He spends time with Nat, Wade, Steve, Bucky, Thor, Bruce, Tony, and even some time with Wanda.

And then Spring is starting with flowers blooming and sunlight streaming through his windows.

Despite it only being the beginning of April, a lot of people are already stressing over prom, including the Juniors who, Peter finds out, also get a prom Mid-June.

He's excited. He's never been to any parties or events, so it'll be fun. He just worries a bit about dressing up, he doesn't have the money to throw around to get super fancy for prom.

*

There's a loud bang as Steve shoves Tony up against the locker, ducking the flailing fist that's sent in his direction.

"I can't believe you're playing him like this!" Steve shouts, ignoring the way his voice echoes around him. The halls are empty around them, too early in the morning for anyone to be here. Steve was here for football practice and Tony was here early to talk to a teacher about one of his classes. They just happened to run into each other in the hallways that Friday morning and something had Steve riled up.

"What? Who?" Tony gasps, eyes wildly trying to focus on Steve's.

"Peter!" Steve exclaims, pushing the younger teen harder against the locker by his shoulders. "You're just doing this because you want to get in his pants, right? You just want to have sex with him and leave him, huh?"

"Says you." Tony tries to shove Steve away from him, but he's a lot weaker than the six-foot quarterback. "You're just doing it to get the money. Nat's keeping the bet's money until there's a winner and last I checked, she's up to nearly a thousand dollars from the school for the winner."

Steve growls. "I'm not doing it for the money, Stark. I genuinely care-"

"You're the one who started this godawful bet!" Tony shouts, finally shoving Steve's hands off his shoulders and moving sideways to get his back away from the lockers.

"You were the one trying to flirt with him the moment you saw him!" Steve crosses his arms over his chest in defense, glaring at Tony who smooths out his button-up.

Rolling his eyes, Tony argues, "I flirt with everyone, Rogers. Don't take it personally."

More than anything, Tony wants to leave. He hates fighting with someone he used to think of as his closest friend. He hates that they've gone from close friends to fuck buddies to enemies in the span of only a few years. He hates all of this, but pure stubbornness keeps his feet firm on the ground.

"You know, there was a time when you weren't a totally snobby bitch," Steve spits, jaw clenching through his anger.

"Maybe I changed after you decided I wasn't good enough for you," Tony says, struggling to keep his impassive nonchalance. They've never talked about this before. "Maybe I realized that if nobody will think I'm good enough, I'll have to think I'm good enough. Maybe, just maybe, Rogers, this happened after you turned the school on me because I'm just the loser you fuck in a closet when you're wasted."